


Now I'm Wondering

by ShowMeAHero



Category: DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Post-Justice League (2017), Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 21:24:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12779808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Bruce Wayne is the world's greatest detective, but the one person he can't seem to figure out is Clark.





	Now I'm Wondering

**Author's Note:**

> Justice League was only okay, but by golly if I didn't come out of it wanting more fanfiction about Bruce and Clark.
> 
> Title pulled from "[The Sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnAllHtG70)" by The 1975.

Bruce settled down into his armchair.

He stoked the fire.

He stared at the shadows.

He felt alone.

“Jesus Christ,” he said aloud. It echoed in the enormous room. Too much adrenaline in such a little amount of time, meeting such extraordinary people and forming intense bonds with them in just days - it had the effect of extreme loneliness, it seemed, once it was gone.

“Master Wayne,” Alfred said near the door, as Bruce was tracing the pattern of the fabric over the arm of his chair. Bruce snapped to attention and stood.

“What is it?” Bruce asked. Alfred waved him off.

“At ease, soldier,” he said. “It’s only Master Grayson.”

“Dick?” Bruce asked, and, true to his word, Dick brushed past Alfred to come into the room. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh, only that I read in the  _ paper  _ that Batman was part of a new team that saved the world from alien monsters,” Dick said, storming past him to take the armchair on the other side of the fire. Bruce sat back down. “What the hell is this, this Justice League? Did you make that up?”

“I got them together,” Bruce offered. “I needed the help.”

Dick pointed at himself, exasperated. “Nightwing? Hello? Could I not have helped?”

“I didn’t want you anywhere near that,” Bruce told him, and Dick snorted.

“What, so you could run off and resurrect Superman and die all by yourself?” Dick asked. Bruce hesitated. “Oh, Jesus Christ.”

“I didn’t die,” Bruce pointed out.

“You  _ tried  _ to die,” Dick said.

“Who-” Bruce started to ask, then turned, but Alfred was already gone, no longer present to glare at.

“If Alfred didn’t tell me stuff, I’d never know anything about you,” Dick said. He picked at a piece of lint on his pants and flicked it away. “Why didn’t you call?”

“What could Nightwing have done that I couldn’t do?” Bruce asked, then held up a hand. “Don’t answer that.”

“Really, Bruce,” Dick said. “Why?”

“I told you,” Bruce said. “I didn’t want you near it. We all nearly died.”

“I would’ve died anyways, if aliens destroyed the planet,” Dick grumbled. He looked at Bruce, then laughed, once. Bruce cracked a smile. “That’s ridiculous. That’s  _ ridiculous!  _ How do you end up involved in this shit?”

“Someone has to,” Bruce said. He settled more comfortably into his chair. “How’ve you been?”

“Besides fighting giant bugs every day and getting exiled from a superhero team I didn’t even know existed? Fantastic,” Dick said, but he was smiling a little now. “You watch your back, or else I’ll start my own superhero team. That, what’s his name… That Cyborg seems useful. I’ll recruit him away.”

“You could try,” Bruce said, smiling back. He looked back at Dick, and felt that smallest bit of surprise he sometimes got when an adult man looked back, and not that little boy he once knew. “How’ve you been, Dick? Really?”

“Really?” Dick asked, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I miss Jason.”

“We all miss Jason,” Bruce said. Dick laughed once.

“Tim’s doing well on his own,” Dick told him. “Robin’s been doing a better job in Gotham than Batman.”

“Well, Batman was in Russia,” Bruce said, “saving the world. Gotham could wait.”

“If any city couldn’t wait, it’d be Gotham,” Dick replied. He picked at lint near his knee again. “How’s your life? Resurrecting aliens and punching other aliens. Sounds busy.”

“It was,” Bruce said. “Not so much now.”

“What, you don’t hang out with your cool new friends?” Dick asked. “Seems like a waste. Alfred told me you were building a meetinghouse for them.”

“Meeting  _ hall,”  _ Bruce corrected. “Clark wants to call it the Hall of Justice.”

“The Hall of Justice?” Dick laughed. “Jesus Christ. And you’re gonna let him?”

Bruce shrugged. “He’s Superman.”

“He is,” Dick allowed. He looked Bruce over with a critical eye. Bruce hated when he did that. “So.”

“So?”

“When did Superman become ‘Clark’?” Dick asked. Bruce turned his attention towards the fire.

“I think that question’s backwards,” Bruce said. “From my understanding, Clark Kent came first.”

“Egg, chicken,” Dick said. “Don’t be obtuse.”

“He’s a friend,” Bruce said. Dick laughed.

“Yeah, alright,” Dick said. “I know that I resurrect all  _ my _ friends.”

Silence fell for a moment.

“I didn’t mean-”

“I thought about it,” Bruce interrupted him. “I did. But. Well. You know, it’s different, with Jason. Clark is…”

“Kryptonian,” Dick finished for him. “He probably can’t die while he’s under our sun. Jason was just a guy.”

“Yeah,” Bruce said. They sat in silence for a moment.

“So, you resurrected Superman,” Dick said, then laughed again. “Jesus, Bruce. Your life.”

“My life,” Bruce agreed. “We needed him.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, ‘we,’” Dick said. “I heard Diana was against it.”

“Alfred is getting a pay cut,” Bruce said loudly. Dick laughed.

“Please,” he said. “Alfred pays himself. He’s probably gotten more raises from you than you know.” Dick looked him over, more keen, more critical. “I heard you did it anyways. You didn’t even know if it would work.”

“We had to try,” Bruce said.

_ “You  _ had to try,” Dick corrected. “You would’ve been a fine leader. Or, what’s-his-name, Arthur. The Aquaman.”

“It’s just Aquaman,” Bruce told him. Dick raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t avoid the point,” Dick said. “My point is, you didn’t  _ need  _ him.”

“Turns out that we did,” Bruce said. Dick shrugged. “He fits in better with the team, anyways. He’s a unifier. Born leader. Me, not so much.”

“You could’ve been,” Dick said. Bruce shook his head.

“Didn’t want to,” Bruce said. They sat for a bit, then Dick looked up at something past Bruce’s shoulder. He stood. “Are you leaving? Stay for dinner.”

“I’ll be back, if you want,” Dick said. “You’ve got another visitor, though.”

Bruce stood and turned, confused, then surprised to see Clark Kent - not Superman,  _ Clark Kent  _ \- standing in his doorway, just behind Alfred. He offered a wave.

“Text me if you want dinner,” Dick said, jogging past Alfred and stopping next to Clark. “Real pleasure, Superman. Glad you came back.”

“Glad to be back,” Clark said, shaking his hand, and Dick tossed a grin over his shoulder at Bruce before heading out with Alfred. Clark lingered in the doorway.

“Come in,” Bruce said, and Clark came, hands in his pockets. He looked every inch the mild reporter, the farm boy, but now Bruce knew better. Clark sat when Bruce motioned to the seat so recently vacated by Dick, cleaning his glasses on the sleeve of his shirt. “You don’t have to wear them if you don’t need them.”

“They help me remember who I am,” Clark told him, replacing the glasses on his face. “If I see them, I’m Clark. If not, Superman.”

“Aren’t you always both?” Bruce asked. “Who’s the alter ego?”

“I don’t think there is one,” Clark told him. “Not like Bruce Wayne.”

“Oh, you think I’m the alter ego?” Bruce said. Clark smiled.

“It would certainly make more sense than the other way around,” he said. He smiled at Bruce, with none of Dick’s fidgeting, all eye contact and white teeth and dark hair. “I don’t think I got a chance to properly thank you.”

“You did,” Bruce said. “A few times.”

“I mean for the League,” Clark said. “I didn’t realize… Well, I guess I just didn’t realize how lonely I had been, without people to share the other half of me with. Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome,” Bruce said. They stared at each other again. “Was that all you came for?”

“Hey, here’s your hat, what’s your hurry,” Clark laughed. “No, that’s not all I came for. I’ve been talking to Diana.”

“Never a good sign,” Bruce said, and Clark laughed again.

“She’s got some good ideas,” Clark said. “Some I don’t love. I’m glad you didn’t listen to her.”

“In which case?” Bruce asked. He wondered, when Clark’s eyes landed on his, whether his gaze was naturally warming from that whole heat-vision laser thing, or if it was just Bruce’s body betraying him.

“In regards to me,” Clark clarified, pretending Bruce really hadn’t known. “She said she was against bringing me back, didn’t know if I’d still be me.”

“She was almost right,” Bruce said.

“Almost,” Clark echoed. “You knew how to bring me back.”

“I did,” Bruce said. They stared again.

“Why’d you do it?” Clark asked. Bruce shrugged, turned to the fire.

“The Justice League-”

“It’s not about the team,” Clark said. “Barry said as much.”

“They needed a leader,” Bruce argued. He could feel Clark’s eyes on the side of his head, and he waited before giving in and turning to make eye contact.

“What did  _ you  _ need, Bruce?” Clark asked, and Bruce kept staring.

“You know,” Bruce said, standing to move closer to the fire, “they call me the world’s greatest detective.”

“Do they?” Clark asked. He stood, too, and came to hover beside Bruce. He kept both feet firmly on the ground.

“They do,” Bruce said. “And yet, somehow, I can’t always figure you out.”

“Well,” Clark said. “Well, you’re the world’s greatest detective.”

Bruce turned slightly to look at him. “And?”

“The  _ world’s,  _ Bruce,” Clark repeated. He pointed to himself and grinned; the orange light from the fireplace flickered across his face. “I’m not from this world.”

Bruce smiled, then laughed once. “You-”

“Me,” Clark said. “You.”

Bruce turned more fully towards him. “What about you?”

“Well, what about you?” Clark asked, and the question felt somehow different, even though the words didn’t change. He took one step closer. “Thanks for bringing me back, Bruce.”

“I didn’t only do it for you,” Bruce said, and Clark nodded, stepping closer again, now close enough to touch.

“Yeah,” he said. “I figured.”

Clark’s mouth suddenly met his, and some great detective Bruce was, even he didn’t see that coming. Clark was hovering a little bit off the floor, just a couple of inches, to even out their height, and Bruce reached up, cupped his hands over Clark’s jaw, and kissed him back.

“Good to have you back,” Bruce said, and Clark smiled, pulling back a little and landing on his feet.

“Good to be back,” Clark told him. The flames still flickered over his face. Bruce let his hands drop. “I’ll have to thank Dick.”

“Why?” Bruce asked, because the last thing he was thinking about in that moment was Dick.

“He asked me to come,” Clark told him, brow furrowing just slightly. “He said you wanted to see me.”

“Oh, that shit,” Bruce sighed. Clark reached out and nudged Bruce’s face down towards his again.

“Guess you’re not that great of a detective after all,” Clark suggested, grinning. “Maybe I  _ am  _ the best choice to lead the League.”

“We’ll see,” Bruce said. “Maybe you can join Dick’s new team, since you’re such good pals now.”

“Oh, is Dick starting a league? How can I submit an application?” Clark asked, and was clearly about to continue to joke when Bruce leaned down and kissed him again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a blog now to request imagines - I just like to make people happy. Submit requests [here!](https://imagine-in-the-fandoms.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> I also actually wrote a book. It was a long road but, I did it! Ta-da! It's about two young ladies who hunt aliens and fall in love. If you want to read it, shoot me a message!
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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